Peacock’s Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, the five-part docuseries that premiered on November 12, 2025, has gripped audiences with its meticulous retelling of one of America’s most notorious unsolved crimes—the 1982 Chicago-area poisonings that killed seven people and sparked a nationwide panic. Directed by Emmy winner David Gelb (Chef’s Table) and executive-produced by Ross Dinerstein, the series combines archival footage, new interviews with investigators and victims’ families, and forensic analysis to revisit the case that revolutionized product tampering laws and remains a haunting cold case 43 years later. With a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score and praise as “the definitive account of a crime that changed America,” the docuseries is Peacock’s most-watched true-crime launch of 2025, amassing 35 million hours viewed in its first week.
The murders began on September 29, 1982, when 12-year-old Mary Kellerman died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol for a cold. Over the next days, six more Chicagoans—Adam Janus, his brother Stanley, Stanley’s wife Theresa, Mary McFarland, Paula Prince, and Mary Reiner—succumbed to cyanide-laced capsules from tampered bottles sold at local stores. The random, motiveless killings terrorized the nation, prompting recalls of 31 million Tylenol bottles, the birth of tamper-proof packaging, and copycat crimes worldwide. Despite a $100,000 reward and thousands of leads, the “Tylenol Killer” was never caught, with prime suspect James Lewis serving time only for extortion (demanding $1 million from Johnson & Johnson to “stop the killing”).
Gelb’s series excels in humanizing the victims: intimate family interviews with the Januses and Kellermans reveal lives cut short, while retired detectives like John Stacker recount the frantic investigation amid media frenzy. New forensic insights—DNA retesting of bottles and behavioral profiling—hint at possible links to disgruntled employees or lone wolves, but no breakthroughs. “It’s the perfect crime,” one expert says, “random yet targeted.”
Viewers are obsessed: “Chilling—binged in one night” (@TrueCrimeFan, 50k likes). Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders isn’t just history—it’s a warning. Stream on Peacock; the poison lingers.
